My Name is Earl is not the funniest show I’ve ever seen or on my top 10 list. It is, however, currently among my favorite shows. I guess you could say this is the case by proxy.
You see, my husband and I are officially old. Between working, dinner, hanging with the kids, bedtime, and whatever else comes up before we settle down to hang out each evening, we’re exhausted. We don’t have cable or satellite – just Netflix/Watch Instantly and Hulu – so we can’t just flip channels and hope to come across something good. We have to consciously choose something.
This gets increasingly difficult because we’re too tired to focus on a movie and often don’t have the time or energy to invest in a drama. So, a good comedy is always a safe choice, but we’ve exhausted The Office and 30 Rock Episodes.
Recently, Tim discovered My Name Is Earl. At this stage in our lives, it is the ideal show for several reasons:
1. It’s lighthearted and each episode takes about 22 minutes to watch.
2. We both like it, but I don’t mind if I miss an episode here and there (or altogether. Picking up the story line is not rocket science.)
3. Since I am notorious for falling asleep to the tv, especially during pregnancy, I am okay if I fall asleep and miss 80% of an episode.
4. If you fall asleep and wake up occasionally (like me) the characters are in no way grating or startling to the senses.
So, here is a common routine at our house. It’s about 8:45 pm and we start to think about watching something together. It’s 9:00 pm before we settle in and I sink into our cozy couch with a pillow, somehow fooling myself that I’m about to “watch” something. Lately, we choose Earl because Tim is totally enamored with it.
And then it goes like this:
Tim watches and laughs.
I try to watch, then I start to doze off and sometimes fade in.
Sometimes I will rouse a bit and smile as I hear his laughter in the background.
He’s happy and that makes me happy.
I settle back in, lulled to sleep by the sweet sound of his laughter.
At about 10 pm, he wakes me and we head off to bed, both happy with our time spent with My Name is Earl.
Awwww. I haven’t watched the show, but like you, we’re limited to Netflix/Hulu. Right now, we have been watching Lie to Me. Doesn’t fit your criteria, but it’s what we’ve enjoyed … all twice! HA!
But your “lulled to sleep by his laughter” truly made me smile!